Steve Sarkisian Strongly Rejects Stadium Jumbotron Trolling of Texas A&M, Mike Elko

The Texas A&M Aggies were not only on the wrong end of a 27-17 final score at DKR Stadium last November in a regular season-ending matchup with the Texas Longhorns, but Mike Elko was on the wrong end of a mean-spirited troll from the venue's videoboard operators.

Elko's claim that "(The Aggies) are the flagship program in this state" was displayed after the final whistle of the Week 14 Lone Star Showdown. On Thursday, during the final day of the 2026 SEC Football Media Days, Texas Longhorns head coach Steve Sarkisian condemned it.

“I was not happy about it. I was not happy about it," Sarkisian said when asked about the infamous "troll job."

Sarkisian likely had nothing to do with the troll. It's clear he is dealing with enough politics behind the scenes to add something problematic like that to his plate. Sark's had plenty of self-inflicted wounds in the last year, but it's believable that this wasn't one of them.

DKR Stadium Made a Bad Loss Even Worse for Texas A&M

Mike Elko was clearly already hurt by Texas A&M's loss to Texas before his words were thrown in his face | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

Elko had already taken the loss to the Longhorns hard before any graphic was posted, using words from his introductory press conference against him.

"From our perspective, just very disappointed in how we played in the second half. We didn't play Texas A&M football at all," Elko said to reporters postgame after being outscored 24-7 in the second half. "Uh, it hurts. It should. This game means a lot."

In hindsight, the loss hurt even more because the Aggies' momentum seemed to permanently stall after a 10-point first half. Texas A&M scored 10 points total over the final 90 minutes of its 2025 season, looking completely overmatched offensively against a stout Miami Hurricanes pass rush in a 10-3 opening-round CFP loss.

To have those words displayed on the videoboard only added to the disappointment. Luckily, though, it seems Elko learned from making those kinds of grandiose statements.

Mike Elko Uses Lack of Trophies as Motivation for Texas A&M Now

Mike Elko has a healthy perspective on Texas A&M's lack of championships | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

As Elko revealed on Wednesday during his scheduled media availability in Tampa, he's now using the lack of any significant Aggies achievements in football as a means to motivate his players.

“I show them our trophy case and it’s empty,” Elko said. “And I think they’re all very aware of that. … We’re obviously happy with the things that we accomplished. We’re happy with the direction of our program, but it’s also not lost on us that we haven’t won the hardware that we’re searching for.

“And so that gets us into a mindset of growth and getting back to work to go finish this thing a little bit better than we did last year and put ourselves in a better position maybe to compete for some trophies.”

It's a healthy perspective and a good course-correction after perhaps overselling the brand when he first arrived in College Station. Maybe this November, Elko and Co. can return the favor, and the Kyle Field videoboard operators could repost those words after a win.

If that happens, the sting of the empty trophy case will have served its purpose.

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